Houseboat Flooring Choices - are laminate floors a good DIY idea?

by Rodney and Pam
(Louisville, KY)

So many houseboat flooring choices, but are laminate floors a good idea in house boats? My wife and I bought our first houseboat last season, and we put it on the Ohio river here in Louisville KY.

It is a 1977, 42 ft Carl Craft houseboat with twin engines, and we love it. It is a little bit of a fixer upper, and yes we did the leaky roof thing ourselves to. We have put some pontoon furniture up on the top deck.

However this season, we're wanting to take out the carpet, and put in some laminate flooring. We found a good deal on some from a man that bought it, and than decided he did not like it.

So we are getting it for .55 cents a sq ft., but my question is, has anyone else tried this and how did it work for them?

We have cold winters and hot summers here. I know it will not last forever, but we just want it to last and look good for a few years.

I also have some pics of the roof being redone done by me, if anyone would like to see them.


Thanks and enjoy the waters safely, Rodney and Pam.



Reply - Answer
Well Rodney and Pam, welcome to the houseboat forums, and congratulations on your recent houseboat purchase.

I am sure that once you finished the roof top deck repairs, it was a pleasure to throw some pontoon furniture up there and enjoy the space and scenery :)

Now as you're looking for more projects, as my wife also would like to remodel the floors, we also contemplated using the laminate flooring. I have only seen and heard good comments when it comes to laying down the new laminates instead of the traditional carpet flooring (hard to keep clean).


One of our houseboats had the "6 inch square" wood parquet floors installed by the previous owners, and that didn't perform well. Mind you, one night we went to bed and forgot the window open, and the heavy rain fall entered, and caused the wood tiles to lift :(

There is plenty of houseboat owners that have remodeled or changed their flooring, and I am sure that you'll receive comments and replies regarding the durability, performance, and maybe some installation tips thrown in :)

As far as I know, with todays new floating laminate floors, the durability and quality shouldn't be an issue. And once you clear out the area, and prepare the floor, installation is pretty well a DIY project, which helps out in the bank account department.



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their houseboat laminate flooring experiences and installations. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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